The House has passed an education finance bill 67-55. It now goes to the Senate. There are true education supporters on both sides of this vote. Overall, it is a good plan, and much better than the block grants. We understand the need to get this plan passed and in front of the Kansas Supreme Court as soon as possible. We are among those who think the court may well determine the funding level is inadequate and force the legislature to increase it. (We also believe there are too many current legislators who will not go any higher with the funding unless ordered by a court.) Ideally the bill passage, judicial review and special session would all occur before June 30, and that becomes less realistic the longer this process goes. Districts must also plan their budgets now.
However, in addition to being disappointed at the funding level, we are particularly disappointed to see expansion of the tax credit scholarship program to allow individuals as well as corporations to qualify for the tax credit. This program is an ALEC program, and several recent reports showed that students using vouchers actually performed worse than they would have if they had remained in their public schools. Additionally, this expansion was in a bill earlier in the session. We testified against it. (See http://gameonforkansasschools.com/…/game-on-submits-testim…/.) It didn’t pass out of the House K-12 Education Budget Committee or the House Education Committee. It wasn’t in either the House or the Senate education finance bills before they went to conference committee, but here it is, in the conference committee report to “sweeten the deal” for legislators who don’t support public education and to try to please Governor Brownback. It’s bad policy, bad economics and bad process.
Photo credit Hunter Woodall, Kansas City Star